October fishing is bittersweet. I am never sure if my latest outing is going to be my last for the season before I pack it in and call it a year. This last week I was lucky enough after a long weekend of work to get a Monday afternoon to fly up the hill and get some fishing time in.

While fishing the creek of choice on Monday I was able to slow down to appreciate the simple stuff around me. The leaves on the trees had turned golden and the air temperature was holding in at a very comfortable sunny 70 degrees. The water was clear and the flow was very fish-able with delightful aerated pockets.

I was thinking about the imminent ending of the season for me. This shifted to thinking about work I had ahead of me, wondered about people, life and my personal challenges. I felt the familiar anxiety that I deal with on a daily basis building up. Suddenly, I am not paying attention to my fishing as I like to while lost in the distraction of my mind my cast sticks my fly into a tree.

I pulled my rod in and tried to wiggle the line free. That didn't work so I decided to pull the line and risk the break. The line and fly finally sprang free from the branch, but not without getting itself into a rat’s nest of a knot. Still holding in my expletives, I could see this was a nasty one. I set my rod under my armpit and took a look at the mess. All I could do was sit there by the water’s edge and take a deep sigh.

The actual knot I am talking about in this blog. :)

The furled line I use gets a lot of comments from others because it is rainbow colored. It is my own creation of sorts. A line I stumbled on at a garage sale that turned out to work really well for tenkara. The line variegates through the colors of the rainbow again and again in about one foot color sections. It is very visible in most lighting conditions and casts as well as most of the other furled lines I have tried. At this point though, my rainbow line was in garbled heap.

I have considered knots as an analogy before. We can see the similarity of the way a knot binds on itself the same way that all of the things in our lives can kind of bind on each other. I have pondered before that knots are best carefully untangled by pulling outward from the mess instead of pulling the bindings tighter. You must slow down and decide carefully what you are going to untangle first. If you pull too hard on one part of a knot, you cinch down tighter on another part. Knots come undone when we slowly pull them apart at the easiest points first. Often times this makes the difficult parts easier to untangle. Life can be like that too.

The knots in our lives seem to happen when the things in our lives bind up too much on each other. The demands of life sometimes pull too hard on every part of us. Our fears, obligations, relationships, hopes, ideas, challenges, projects and desires start to wrap around each other. We see how our lives get tangled with these different concerns and thoughts that we have. We find our life line spinning out of control and balling itself up.

One advantage my rainbow line has is that you can tell the different parts of the line from each other. Single toned lines get into knots and it is difficult if not impossible to see what part is attached to what other part of the knot. With the rainbow line I could see that certain parts of the mess were related and more easily untangled. These clues of color actually make the knot more understandable. You can see each color in relationship to the other parts of the mess.

If only the knots of our lives could be as easy to decipher. To this I suppose we could try. If our fears could be one color, our hopes another and our relationships, troubles and cares each have their own color, then we could see that knot as less daunting and stressful. We could pull apart the colors and let them untangle from the places that they were binding on and allow us to untangle faster. Perhaps they would open up solutions to other entanglements?

The lesson I experienced goes a little deeper still. Even figuring in the color clues, some knots are just too tight to undo. What we have to sometime do is separate the tangle as best we can then analyze what can be salvaged and what can be sacrificed.

As I looked at my line I was able to see that in pulling apart and decoding the colors I had inadvertently pulled a knot that was not going to come apart. Looking at what remained I decided to not spend 15-30 minutes of my fishing time trying to save the line. We have to make the decision sometimes to just cut the knot out and try to fix what remains. I took out my nippers and cut the free ends of the tight knot and was able to find my line now in two pieces with a very small section where the problem had been. A simple splice and the line was still usable. Sure, it had a splice point, but it was functional and was a reminder of the struggle.

When we try to undo those tangled lines in our lives sometimes we find that there are knots that we just can’t undo. We need to learn when to take and spend time working on them and when to just cut those impossible issues away and splice the good parts together again. The chaotic knot goes away and is replaced by one that is good enough to hold things together. It is in some ways a stronger knot that will not interfere too much with the function of the line. The splice becomes a reminder of the struggle we faced and got past and we find ourselves back on the stream…casting again.

Recently at the Tenkara Summit 2018 Yvon Chouinard made a statement that has been wearing on me heavily. It wears on me heavily because I am sure that I am guilty of it. I am guilty of keeping fish out of water too long.

Yvon basically stated that if you keep a fish out of water for more than 20 seconds that you have reduced the trout's ability to survive by 80%. I am going to take Yvon at his word on this. I will also keep looking for the scientific studies to support his claim. I have read that you can keep a fish out longer but why don't we just all consider 20 seconds as being too long?

We must learn to be gentleAs someone who catches and releases his fish 98% percent of the time I started to think back to times that I am sure that I stressed a fish too much. I know early on I probably man handled the fish I caught. Learning to be gentle is very important step we must practice and teach younger fishermen. We have all probably stressed at least one fish out beyond levels of good conscience. I realize that I may be preaching to the choir on this however it has taken me a long time to really grasp the reality of the importance of doing catch and release correctly. A slippery fish can accidentally be squeezed in our haste.

Fish need us to be mindful.Since the Summit I have taken to really paying attention to this. I have become VERY mindful of the time I am exposing a fish to air. I am also being much more conscious about how long I play a fish and how I hold a fish. A few people and articles suggested that we hold our own breath while the fish is out of the water and consider this too. I don't know about you but I would rather focus on getting the fly out of the fish's mouth than try to have a game of see how long I can hold my breath.

Changing the definition of "Caught".Maybe we need to look at how we define a "catch". This year I decided to adopt the philosophy of my friend Mark Cole. He and his wife Judy are just the greatest fishing couple you will ever meet. Mark has decided for himself that if a fish takes your fly and then shakes free it is as good as getting a fish to hand. This is not to say that he doesn't get fish to hand himself. Another friend has a 3 second rule that he uses. If you play a fish for 3 seconds it is as good as caught. We can perhaps stop being so stringent in our definition of success in fishing and remember that we fish to be outdoors and to connect with nature in a very unique way.

How important is that photo?Catch and release folks love to get a quick shot of themselves and the fish. I used to take a lot of fish pictures but have since cut back to one or two fish at the most on any given day on the stream. I realized that it was partially my own ego I was feeding with the photos. Showing off on facebook is a poor reason to collect photos of fish. Maybe we should look at just being with ourselves in those moments. The experience of catching a good fish can never be captured in a single photo. That moment is yours. You should decide how badly you need to share proof. Best suggested way to get a photo is to not be the one who has to take it. If you have a fishing buddy there, let them take a quick shot for you if it is not too much trouble and they are ready.

Being prepared for the catch is everything. Knowing what you are going to do once you bring the fish in is important. Premeditate this and have your tools at the ready. Maybe the first step is as we bring a fish near the shore or near to us that we let the fish just swim near us and rest. We can then decide what to do next. Get your net only after the fish is close enough to you to catch in the net. There is much to be said about nets and the potential damage they do at another time). They are still the most acceptable way to figuratively "land" a fish. I cringe now at early pictures I have taken of fish sucking air while sitting on the bank in blades of grass. There is no need to put a fish on the land unless you have resigned yourself to keep it for consumption.

Try to keep the fish in the water until you can no longer get the fly out.If you get the fish into a net there is little reason to take it out and handle it. There is also little reason to take the fish and net out of the water. You can remove the fly while the fish is still in the net and submerged. Often I have had a fly release itself in the net. If you don't get the fly out of the fish's mouth easily on the first attempt keep the fish in your net. Let the net just float in water and act like a little aquarium. Get out your hemostat or needle nose pliers and take the fish out of the water just far enough to get to it's mouth and throat. Hopefully you have already stopped using barbed hooks for your flies and the removal of the fly from the throat will happen very fast.

When a fish "deep throats" your fly.Sometimes a fish just hits a fly and starts to swallow it faster than they can realize it is not a real bug. When this happens you will have to make a judgement call. If you can't get the fly out quickly enough you may just have to leave it in there and cut the line. The second choice is to sacrifice the fish. Consider sacrificing the fish only if it is appropriate. Don't waste the fish for nothing. Eat it yourself or give it to someone you know who likes trout. My mother in law will take any fish you have to sacrifice. This situation may be the dark side of fishing but if you see bleeding it is a good sign that the fish cannot be saved. When you have dedicated yourself to catch and release fishing this may be a wake up call to slow down and give this all more thought. Maybe to compensate for every fish you have to sacrifice you can decide to make a charitable donation to Trout Unlimited or your favorite wildlife fund.

This all comes down to is mindfulness and having the best practice established for how you are going to treat the fish you catch. For those of us who have chosen to practice catch and release as a way to assure that there are fish to catch tomorrow it is important to fulfill that reasoning with good fish release techniques otherwise we might as well keep every fish we catch anyhow. I look forward to insights from my readers in the comments and I will update this post with some studies when I can get them to support some of the claims here in this post.

The leaves are starting to turn and the weather has turned cold on cue. We likely have a few more sunny days left before I decide to pack my gear away for the season. I think this is the last year for this latest pair of waders. Sure, Colorado has fishing year round, however I decided last year to be a man who observes the seasons and gives the fish a little winter break. There are plenty of memories and plenty of things to do over the winter months. My shop has a heater and I have a lot of wood I can turn.

As I look back on my fishing season though I can smile at the great memories of time on the stream. I caught a lot of fish this year and along the way made some good new friends too. My spools hit the market and I got to see them going to owners who appreciated them and the time that I put into them.

Every year has a it's challenges. While I didn't get to go on one trip that I was looking forward to I was able to take others that make up for that ten times over. I prefer to focus on the positives. Some of the milestone moments were turning 50 years old, fishing in South Dakota with my brother of another mother and having one of the single most productive days on the water with 40 fish caught in just 3 hours.

I look forward to the winter despite not wanting to fish very much during cold weather. I can focus on my writing, developing new products and of course tying up good supply of flies for next April. I still have all the makings for brewing my own sake' and today I decided that I was going to try to make my own horse hair leader.

The Tenkara Summit 2017 was very inspiring for me this year. I had fun, sold some spools, connected with old friends, made new ones and got to experience Yvon Chouinard give an moving and funny presentation that literally changed my outlook on the industry, fish hatcheries, dams and handling fish. I got to perform again at the summit and it is always nice to share my other passion with my tenkara brothers and sisters. The second day of the summit I also got to fish Rocky Mountain National Park and was able to land a few brownies too.

I won't rush the winter but I will sidle up to it. Living a well rounded life is about setting things aside from time to time to let them rest. I have lots of things to write about and I am looking at adding some fun blog posts through the winter.

Finally we started a Colorado Tenkara Club for residents of Colorado last year and it is time to put some time into that project too. It will be good to have everyone meet up again to tell their stories about the season and to make plans for 2018.

es·sen·tialəˈsen(t)SHəl/

1. noun; a thing that is absolutely necessary."we had only the bare essentials in the way of gear"

Today I want to talk about "The Essentials". I took a look at what I thought was important to take and what was not so important to bring along. Sure there are luxury items and my thoughts here are only a suggestion. Your experiences and needs may differ from mine so you might take more or less than I do.

I enjoy the freedom of being able to move quickly from hole to hole. As a result of that I have found that the less I have to carry the better I can maneuver through the brush, around the trail and to the next hole. One of the major advantages tenkara has over the traditional Western style fly fishing is the reduction of gear. In my most stripped down form I can carry everything in my hands, pockets and on my body. It shouldn't take you 10 minutes to get out to the stream because you had to dress up, rig up and make sure that everybody knows you are there to fish.

We’ve all heard it. “Tenkara is just a rod, a line and a fly”. …Yeah …yeah…yeah. This is true but does not apply to the “extras”. I strive to only take what I need that day on the trail I am taking or for that pull off I am stopping at. Beyond the rod, line and fly there are a few things that you will certainly need to have worked out.

I am always looking for ways to life hack or even multipurpose things. Utility is king in keeping things simple. If you have a tool that will do more than one job you save yourself from a redundancy of carrying two things. The main things I need to do on the stream are to cut lines, store flies, spool my line, land a fish safely and finally, have something to remove a deep set hook. Most everything else can just stay kept in your vehicle unless you have indication that you will need it. I leave a lot of items in my vehicle rather than take them with me.

All I really need are good pockets and most fishing shirts offer a good selection of pockets. If you are like me you also really like cargo pants and shorts. Managing your pockets is a skill in itself. Practicing putting things back in the same pocket every time will save you time and sanity.

Here are my "Essentials" and thoughts...

The "Mostly Optional" But "Handy" Sling Pack . I take my sling pack along primarily for food, water, a raincoat and to keep my wallet keys and license. The size of sling pack you use is up to you. I am currently testing out different sized sling packs to see how low profile I can go without giving up the efficiency and utility that they can offer. Your needs may be greater or less than other’s needs for comfort. If you are going to be stepping into the terrain and trails away from your vehicle a sling pack can be a nice way to carry a controlled amount of gear with you and help you manage your pocket space.

"One... and ONLY One" RodAs recently as last Monday I did what I usually do and carried my spare rod with me into the brush. Unfortunately, it fell out of my sling pack somewhere in the deep brush and despite backtracking as best as I could, it remains lost. This one event has made me think about the idea of carrying a back up rod with me.I can alleviate the need for a second rod by making sure that the rod I am using is in good working order. It also motivates me to be more careful with the main rod. Just keep your spare rod in your car unless the bother of going back to your car is going to mean the end of your day. Wouldn't it be just as smart to just have a spare top three sections of your rod anyhow? These segments take up less room if you do decide to carry them with you and should you lose them it is a lot cheaper than losing a whole rod... Yeah, I'm still moping about the lost rod.

Lines, Leaders and TippetWhich ever main line you use, level or furled, be sure to have some extra with you. Have at least enough back up for a second rigging should you need it. Ever go to rig up and pull off some tippet and are surprised to find you only have a foot left on the spool? Yikes! Lines and tippet are light and take up very little space. There is no reason not to just have an extra supply of each with you. As insurance I also always keep an extra spool of tippet in my glove compartment.

Flies, Flybox, Better Still ...a "TenkaraPath Flybox Spool"I don’t like to carry a large box or multiple boxes of flies out with me. Boxes can be bulky and nobody needs to carry 1000 flies out with them for "just in case" This year I am doing the “one fly” approach. It has treated me very well even in the middle of a colossal mayfly hatch. I keep a "main supply tin" of flies in my car and reload my "stream supply" as needed. Though the ingenuity of consolidation I created the TenkaraPath flybox spool. The spool holds my tippet, line and acts as a fly box too. It has eight chambers that will each hold two flies securely with rare-earth magnets. I can carry 16 flies with me. The Flybox spool fits neatly in my breast pocket when I am fishing. Otherwise it is used as a traditional line spool and slipped over the collapsed rod.

Streamside HardwareThese items of hardware are your nippers for trimming your line and a set of long nosed pliers or forceps for removing hooks. It never hurts to carry a pocket knife, a whistle and perhaps a lighter too. All of these items still carry easily in your pant pockets. Your phone (aka your camera), keys and wallet can go into your sling pack. Sunglasses are imperative. These can be hung around your neck or just worn.

Waders, Shoes, Hat and Sun GlassesDepending on the time of year and the conditions that you will want to have the option of waders and boots or shoes to get out into the water and muddy terrain. In the hotter months I will occasionally forgo wearing waders altogether and just wear a pair of boots or water shoes to fish in. It is nice on those hot days to just let your legs and feet fly free in the water. It is important to pick shoes that are meant to be submerged and that have a good grip on the rocks should you find yourself in swift water. Keeping your head covered with a hat is also a good idea. I wear glasses for reading need them to thread a fly. I continue to work on solving my eyeglass/sunglass dilemma. I will keep you posted on that.

Landing Net, (Tamo)The less we touch fish the better. I like having a net to also help me get a fish to land. Be sure that you are using a net when you can to bring a fish in. Tenkara fishermen often use a special net called a “Tamo”. This net has a unique bend shape to it and is made usually from a single branch of a tree. They are aesthetically beautiful on their own and a literal lifesaver for fish. I made my own net and continue to play with making nets.

Food and Water...But Mostly WaterHaving food is more of an option but water is a necessity. I love taking a break now and again and finding a granola bar or bag of M&M’s in the side pocket of my sling pack is always nice. It can give you a needed bit of energy. Put it in your pack and forget about it. Having water is probably the most important thing you can carry with you. I try to keep a gallon jug of purified water in the trunk of my car and I carry a water bottle in my pack. Recently I started carrying a personal filter straw and have used it to drink directly from the stream. These are relatively inexpensive and if you don’t want the weight of a water bottle they are a way to stay hydrated on the fly.

FIRST AID KIT/BUG STUFF/SUN SCREENIt is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I don’t go overboard on the first aid but as I have fallen on rocks, hooked my finger, scratched my face, and been bitten by mosquitoes, I have a small kit that carries at least a few band-aids, some bug repellent and a small container of sunscreen. These you can keep together in a small sized camera bag stored in your sling pack.

And that folks is how we “keep things simple”. You can certainly add to what you want to carry with you. There is always an exchange of stuff for weight or management. I think the main point is to plan for what you need without packing in stuff you really don’t. Recently I read a great blog called "Tenkara Tales" written by David West Beale of the United Kingdom. I really liked what he shared in his blog that similarly covered this topic. Please see what he has to share about keeping things simple too.

Because not every blog post has a happy story line, a few doughnuts remind us that we have to find what makes us happy sometimes.

Colorado weather seems to continually surprise me. It is February and while you might expect it to be cold it has been unseasonably warm for about a few weeks. Well, that is to say until today. We went from 60's and 70's to snowing in a matter of just 24 hours. I'm not here to bore you with a forecast of the weather though. I just make this comment here to explain and set the scene for my last week here.

Two days ago I saw a break in my busy schedule. I realized that I could take my kiddo to school and then have all morning and into the afternoon if I wanted to for a day of fishing. I could squeeze a day or so more out of my fishing license and maybe even explore a new place or two that had been tipped to me.

Friday -"The tip and good weather"

On a tip from an acquaintance, in a passing conversation, I decided to head to some water that he suggested I check out. Now I won't name the waterway out of respect to him for sharing it with me but I will tell you make sure you get exact directions when you get information like this. You see I ended up at the wrong place. That in itself isn't horrible. In that foible I actually did find myself on a stretch of that water that I hadn't covered yet.

My adventures in "the wrong place" was a pretty futile effort in the long run for actually catching fish. The water was clear and seasonably skinny. There were clearly pockets of fish-able water to be found. As I walked the mile or so downstream from the parking lot I tried to imagine what this place could provide in the spring. I tried to take mental notes of holes that would be good to visit another time. An optimist at heart, I was hopeful still for a little luck in finding a lazy brown hiding along a bank undercut. (BIG SIGH) Nope. Nothing. On now what amounts to a walk, I did see one other fisherman who felt compelled to tell me stories about 18" rainbows that he was pulling out of that stream in the early spring.

Sidebar: This is why I have mixed feelings about stream talk.1. You don't know how much of the information (if any of it) to trust.2. It sucks to hear that you are there at the wrong time but you make a mental note of it anyhow.And 3. ...Dude, I came out here to fish. Thanks, and I am moving on.

I worked my way back to my car and then headed north a bit from that parking area and found a pull off that I was new to me as well. There were other cars there but I presume they were all hikers in the area as I didn't see anyone on the water. I walked upstream and found places that I had driven by many times but never stopped at because they were, well... just too far down the hill and likely to have been fished out by the "harvesters". What I found was again thin skinny water without any signs of life. There was plenty of fishy looking water with aeration and deeper pools along with a clearly visible rocky bottom; my hopes were raised slightly. I had one fish rise to a cast. It was a small... let's say "half-strike"...and didn't take. Just a nibble, spit and dive. Well that was encouraging but the excitement of that wore off quickly.

Tuesday - "Frustrated but a doughnut will make you hopeful."

The following Tuesday I was able to head back out. I dropped my son off at school, grabbed a doughnut and a cup of coffee and bolted for the waterway. The weather again pretending to be spring. I headed back up the hill on the same stretch of water but to a more familiar stop. I found a pull of or two and edged my way up stream repeatedly being disappointed at the lack of life in the water. There were pools that I fished that I can usually count on 80% of the time to find a fish hiding in. When I made my way to my chosen end stop I worked downstream again into waters that I seldom fished in the past just to learn the terrain and the turns of the stream. I will spare you the details. It was a bust. At this point I didn't know if I was frustrated or just disappointed to a whole new level.

Wednesday -"Right place same results." (should have gotten a doughnut)

Don't you hate it when the title of a section kind of tells it all? Well this does that but I promise that I will come to my main point when it is all over. I checked in with the friend who gave me the original tip that inspired me to dust of my license and get out while the getting was good. Explained my non-adventure and was promptly told I was in the wrong place.

This time I got a very specific location thanks to our friends at Google maps. I dropped my son off at school, skipped the doughnut and had a coffee with me from home. I parked and checked my Google location and was definitely at the right place. I will be honest. This is not the usual place I would have thought to look for fishing. On the map it seems a little suburban but it is a nice little stretch of water and I could see potential going into it. It was one of those places where you see everyone unloading bikes and walking their dogs. It was a little closer to the city than I like...a place that probably only a few fisherman would fish without at least a touch of spite stuck in their craw.

It was as I said before, a suburban area. You could see apartment complexes in the distance. It was wintered over and ugly. Not a leaf in a skeleton of trees and not a sign of green anywhere. But the sun was shining and I decided to go into this with an open mind yet realistic expectation that there would be little if any life.

What I found was exactly the kind of stream features that the friend had described. I could imagine the water with more cover of leafed our trees, growing grasses and raised waters. The pools were obvious and you got a sense of where the water levels had been at one time. The canopy was actually not bad for tenkara at all and even as I hopelessly went through the motions of casting to the pools and cascades of white bubbles I knew I could see myself back here again in just a few months.

Thoughts on dormant waters

I am a person of imagination and hope. While these three late-winter/pre-spring outings provided little in the way of fishing action. I did slow down long enough to think about the waters. From new found accidents along the way to new sections of old haunts and actual locations that a man swears are some of his best "go to waters". As the song goes..."there is a season".

Dormant waters should be expected. Fish are subject to seasonal changes, water levels and predators. They do what they must to survive the winter season. This makes me wonder where they actually do go of course but at the same time, that is a secret that is perhaps best unknown. Well, I still want to understand it better.

As I reflect on this and project the idea onto my own relationship with the season, I see that I need to perhaps have my own places that I escape away to during the winter. Places that I will be in solitude and remain unmolested by others. This gives the world I live in during the spring a little time to flow without me directly in it or struggling to survive in a less than optimal environment. Winter is a time for slumber and reflection. Certainly it is a time for planning and thinking about the future seasons ahead as well. Eat doughnuts, look at maps, tie flies etc.

Perhaps this whole blog post is really about me reminding myself that we need these slow, unproductive times for introspection. They can act as a comparison for us in the more productive and busy times. Maybe make us appreciate the more bountiful seasons. I wish that the rest of our society was perhaps more seasonally affected.Arguably it probably is but is ignorant to its effects. It seems every January that we are supposed to be "out of the gates" rushing towards some goal. Well this guy is going to take a cue from the groundhog and slip back into my hole only coming out occasionally if the sun is shining. I won't be fooled by the false promise of early spring. When I do emerge though I will be ready and focused. See you in the spring. I'll bring the doughnuts.

I honestly believe we have fallen prey to the world of commercialism and have been sold a huge bill of goods. We are advertised lifestyles that are mere snapshots of opulence that we should supposedly be working towards living. We have been taught through our consumer culture that possessions equal freedom. Looking back at my own childhood I think about being on the poorer end of the scale compared to my friends. We weren't dirt poor but it seemed that the things that would have made me feel "normal" compared to others were always just out of reach.I have been on that roller coaster of striving for that idealized image of what is a "successful life". The road was paved with false ideas and false promises of happiness.

Now that I am older I now see the things that mattered in my youth for what they were, trivial consumerist thinking. With time and experience as my teacher I find myself drawn to the aesthetics of simplicity. To the value of time, quality and clarity. I want life to quit being so complicated and full of clutter.

Over the last few years now I have been working to minimize my lifestyle. The items that I had accumulated despite any actual need for them were both a virtual and literal weight on my life and psyche. Too often I had made the mistake of confusing the things I wanted for the things I needed. I see now that I like if ever stopped to ask the most important question. Why did I need anything that I thought I wanted?

Tenkara really has been a great teacher for me. It has helped me see that I could have as much if not more enjoyment with less gear and less thought given. I learned that having more than I needed was a burden Most of the stuff I was carrying was not needed. My fishing gear was actually taking up space that I could use better for things that would extend my day and make the whole experience better, easier and yes, more personally fulfilling. Tenkara and its elements of simplicity have become a practice that has imprinted itself on me and that I try to live into now with other parts of my life.

I want to give a few thoughts for you to consider as well as a few questions for you to throw at yourself regarding the things you own and have been holding on to. I am not an expert yet at this. I have been working for a few years now with leaps forward and slides backward to minimize my life and lifestyle. It is not easy to purge things from your life. Minimalism isn't for everyone and I am not suggesting everyone dive deep into it. I know though that for me it has been a great thing. It has served my life. Maybe you will find a few things that will help you change the way you think about your stuff. Here are a few questions to start you off.

Six questions about the stuff you own.

1. Think about the things you own and now ask how do I feel about getting rid of these things?I keep looking at my things and looking at how I am emotionally tied to them. These emotions keep us from getting rid of things. For me sometimes, objects seems to have an invisible tag tied onto them. The things we own should really serve a specific and desired need. They should serve us as more than just items we can say we own. Often times they feel like they own us. By exploring our emotions surrounding items and being honest with ourselves we can examine why we are keeping things and better still, should we be?

2. If your house was on fire what would be the 5 things you would grab to save?Let's pretend you have only 1 minute to grab those 5 things... (For the record, your family and pets are safe and not part of this list. We are talking about "things") You might be surprised at what things you do grab. Why those 5 things and not others? Most things can be replaced of course. What things we value most can give us a lot of insights into ourselves and our values.

3. How many places do you have that you put stuff to keep..."Just in case?"I can easily bet that if you are reading this you have a junk drawer full of "tid-bits", a shed full of duplicate tools, a medicine cabinet with expired pills,a garage or storage unit with boxes of things you forgot existed, or maybe a box (or is it boxes?) of fly tying materials you will never use in a single lifetime. We keep a lot of stuff "just in case you need them". It would take you a lot longer than 20 minutes in some cases to find that one thing you are looking for. The reality is that if we really need something it can probably be gotten new in less than 20 minutes and replaced for less than $20. So what is the real benefit to keeping it?

4. What items are you keeping for no other reason than the memories associated with them?When an item reminds us of a happy time or a person in our lives, that should and can be a good thing. But if we are really honest some of those things don't really recreate that moment and we really don't need that item to remember that event or person in our lives. Nostalgic items come in all shapes and sizes. From old concert ticket stubs to ratty baseball hats, etc. Certainly some items can be cherished and kept. But if the nostalgia is the only reason you are keeping something then you might be just be holding on to an item as a way to hold on to the past. What I have found is that only a few items ever make it to my "keep for nostalgia" box. Yes, a small cigar box can hold a great treasure that won't take up too much room.

5. When you buy things do you buy in bulk?A short while back I found realized I owned more fly tying materials than I would ever need. More thread spools, feathers, dubbing material, hooks and even duplicate fly tying tools. These things all accumulated because frankly they were sold in large quantities. Add to that I wanted to have a large variety of materials to tie with. So I decided to take out just what I would use and to put the rest in a box. The box was there and if I needed something I could go to the box and get it. Truth be told, I never opened the box. After a year I made the leap and was able to donate my gear to a friend's son who was taking up fly tying. The biggest reward was that my fly tying bench became much easier to use. Quite often when we buy things we are purchasing them because we don't want to be without.

6. Have you told yourself that having variety makes you more creative, saves you time or even money?Why do you feel this way and is that really the truth? I have found that having fewer choices is the best way to find true creativity and focus in my life. Whenever I have too many choices it becomes much harder to make a choice. Things become more difficult to store and manage. Having too many choices in front of us can actually be a block in our progress and in our creativity. Remember that it is necessity that is the mother of invention not variety.

The Art of Letting Go.

Letting go of things we don't use or need is actually a very bold and brave action to take. Physically speaking, it can really open up our storage spaces, clear our cluttered shelves, closets and garages. Practically speaking it can open our lives up to great things too. Things like more time, more money or mental health. We see very quickly that our lives are not measured by the things we own. Our lives are measured by the experiences we have and the people in our lives. There are many benefits to working towards a minimalist lifestyle. You cannot expect though to just jump into these changes. You have to take intentional steps. You have to look at items you own and decide what importance they have in your life. How do they enrich your life and when was the last time you used that item? I am taking steps currently to see that the things in my life are things that I have intentionally said yes to owning. The process is incredibly therapeutic and humbling. There is a freedom that comes with letting "things" go. There is absolutely an art to it. A process that changes your outlook and perspective.

Seven Small Steps (okay 8)

1. Find one room in your house. Perhaps a very personal room to you that has mostly if not all of just your things in it. Examine what is in this room. What belongs there? What is just being stored there? What things are cluttering the space?

2. Get yourself 4 boxes. One box is for stuff you want to donate, one is for stuff you need to move to another place in your home, one is a small box marked "just in case" and the last one is just a garbage.

3. Try to fill each of the boxes. Save the "just in case box" for items you think you might need later and aren't ready to get rid of.

4. Make decisions quickly and without second guessing yourself.

5. Remove the boxes from the room. Put the stuff away that needed to be in a different location. Put the garbage into the waste bin outside, take the charity donation away. Put the sealed up, "Just in case box" into a closet, under your bed or if need be on a shelf in your garage. Mark the box with a date of up to 6 months. Whatever you haven't removed from the box after that date should be tossed or donated.

6. Now come back to the recently cleared room space and begin to tidy and reorganize what you have left.

7. Once you have done these steps you can then appreciate your new found space and the feeling it gives you. Think about the things you kept and why you kept them.

8. Wait a day or so and then find your next space or room to tackle.

Some final wordsLetting go of stuff feels good, clears up your space from clutter and can be a psychological weight lifted off of your shoulders. Letting go with intent makes room in your life for easier living and has a holistic effect on your overall thinking. The real trick is to establish a new way of thinking about stuff. Establish a new mindset, think differently about the things you purchase and do your best not to over-consume. Sure things will find their way into your life again. As items do come into your possession just ask your self "do I really need this?" "Do I find value enough in this thing to keep it?" I wish you the best in your process of downsizing, minimizing your possessions and understanding your relationship to your stuff.

Extend the life of your waders......for under $10 bucks!

I can't believe we are in the middle of fall fishing already. The seasons have rushed on by. What a great summer it has been. Lots of good water and beautiful fish. I have been getting out as often as I can and over the last few outings started to notice that my left wader foot was getting progressively leaky. I wear﻿Chota hip waders.﻿I love that they are lightweight and pack small. They are perfect for most every stream I fish. Not super expensive but also not cheap. I would like to get more than a few seasons out of them. In the past I had touched up the seams that started to peel back with a little super glue. These held pretty well for a while.

Unfortunately the waders near the end of this season have been just slowly wetting my socks. The left wader finally got so bad that it immediately soaked my sock just stepping into the water. I looked for a seam that might be blown out and eventually using an old trick found an actual hole in the toe. More about that shortly.

At first I thought maybe I would just try and reseal everything up again with the old superglue. One thing that I noticed about using superglue though was that it would eventually crack and flake. What I really needed was a rubberized substance that I could apply to the seams. I remembered a product that I had seen at the hardware store used for resealing leaky gutters and such. Then I also remembered a product used for dipping tool handles into that created a rubberized grip. With a little on line research I found Plasti-Dip by Performix was also now available in an aerosol spray. Basically a spray on rubberized sealer! This product seems to have sealed my seams dare I say better than manufacturer's standards.

Patching and Sealing Pointers

1. Clean all surfacesSometimes just cleaning the surfaces of your waders will reveal where the leaks are likely coming from. For sure you will want your surfaces to be clean before applying the Plasit-Dip. Using a soap and water mixture and a small soft bristle brush remove any dirty build up.

2. Locate all potential leaks - Light em up!Finding where your leaks are can be done in a number of ways. Sure you could fill the wader with water and let the water reveal where the leak is. But then you have to wait for the waders to dry. Don't use water... use "light"I took a bright desk lamp and shone it down into my waders. Turned the lights down in the room and quickly found a pretty good hole in the toe of my wader. This is an incredible way to find the holes in your waders. I found one other hole that was not in the neoprene but in the fabric portion of the wader as well using this same method. Holes really stand out. You can't miss them. You will want to mark the holes some how. I used a sharpie marker to circle the holes. The toe hole didn't need to be marked out because once I found it it was so obvious.

Putting a bright light inside your waders and turning off the lights can reveal the obvious just like this hole in the neoprene toe of my wader.

3. Creating a rubberized patch.For the cloth area of the waders I didn't want to just spray all willy-nilly and cover the wader with a mist of black paint. Instead I masked off the area around the hole which was pretty much just a pin hole sized snag. I used duct tape because it was what I had on hand. I am sure that painter's blue tape would work just as well. I used the tape to mask off a nice 1" square around the hole. I then took sheets of paper and covered around the edges of the tape leaving only the area to be sprayed exposed. I sprayed on a single coat, let it dry and then did a second coat let it dry and finally a third coat and let it dry. After that I was able to pull up the tape and had a nice square patch over the hole. I kind of

Plasti-Dip comes in many colors but for the sake of subtlety and simplicity I used the black. These patches add character to your waders that make them look well used.

4. Filling in the toe hole.The toe hole in the neoprene was fortunately not a "gaping hole" but was instead the kind of hole that was just starting to wear through. I would think that if it was a gaping hole you would need to apply some cloth tape as a patch to the hole and then apply the sealant over the top of this. I hung my waders from hooks on my back patio. Outdoors or in a well ventilated area is where you want to safely spray the product. I again applied the rubberized spray in light coats letting each coat dry before applying the next. The result was a slowly built up blob of rubberized paint over the hole.

You can see that the toe hole filled in quite well. Note also that he seam absorbed and pooled up a lot of the Plasti-Dip too. This all hardens but is still flexible.

5. Sealing up your seams better than the factory.I was so impressed with the results that I decided that I would go ahead and reinforce all of the seams in the neoprene sock portions of the waders. Again hanging the waders from hooks I was able to spray the suspended waders with the spray directly onto the seams. The seams seemed to suck up the rubberized paint and after 2 coats I could see they were really sealed. There were some places that the sealing tape had already started to come up on. I applied a heavier coat over these and let the Plasti-Dip fill in the gaps. As per the instructions I let the painted areas dry and cure completely.

This all took very little time and my waders are definitely going to last me at least one more season. I am tempted when I purchase my next set of waders to go ahead and preemptively spray the seams. For whatever reason the sealing tape glue isn't nearly as good as this stuff is when it comes to making a very smooth and adherent seal.

Plasti-Dip rocks for these kinds of repairs and their website shows that it can be used in lots of interesting ways on other items. It is strong, rubberized and seals watertight. I am happy with the results and will be looking at other products put out by this company. I am ready to hit the water again and won't have wet socks to contend with. I hope that you find this hack very helpful.

Spring is here! Spring is here! Spring is here!!!All winter I have been tying flies and pouring over maps for places to hit once spring and summer hit. Once the waters looked good I had to get out. We had some false starts which is about right for Colorado and the front range. Mother nature has a way of playing an evil game of "psyche". I was able to get in a few days between snow storms.Those early spring snow falls are welcome as water for the streams up to the point that I start swearing about all the mucky slushy snow. My patience is moderate at best when it comes to season changes and weather.

Through the winter I did quite a bit of daydreaming of fishing in the warmer season. Of those places there was one place specifically that I was looking forward to hitting. Now we all have those places that we fish that are absolutely sworn secret places. This place I am about to tell you about is not so much a secret as it is a place you could easily find yourself going to if you made a little effort and made the trip a destination. In addition to the great fishing, there is also beautiful scenery and amazing amounts of wildlife. No, not Wyoming, or Montana, I'm talking about South Dakota.

Specifically I'm talking about Custer State Park. We went this year just before Memorial day and it was absolutely a dream get away. The trip for us was a little more than a 6 hour drive to get there. Our first trip there was two years ago in mid June. Both times that we have been there were just great. There are plenty of accommodations in the park for whatever floats your boat. Tent or RV Camping, Cabins and even a lodge. We did the cabin for this trip and it was perfect. The Blue Bell Campground had RVs, Tents sites and wonderfully clean and cozy cabins. There is a small store near by where you can get what you need and even buy your fishing license. There's beer and some essentials as well as a modest amount of tourist souvenirs. The cabins are pretty much, low-end "Glamping". Bunk beds and a table but power to charge your phone or to run your portable dvd player if you are 7 year old and can't live without an episode of Scooby Doo. So you are a long way from roughing it and having to hike into a back woods. It's nice to have a shower and for a family trip it is perfect.

There are only a couple of streams in Custer State Park to fish. The one that stands out the most and that I spent my days on this trip was French Creek. I got the 3 day fishing license and could have probably added an additional day or six. There is a lot of stream to cover. This stream seems to be everywhere in the park. I winds around in so many different directions and covers so much of the park. I got disoriented trying to figure it out. It was almost spooky that every time I saw a stream it was this same one in a place you didn't expect it. But how? I think this is the most winding stream I have ever fished.

Day one I didn't wander far - Getting StartedBlue Bell Picnic AreaJust on the main road before the turn off to the Blue Bell Camp ground is a public picnic area that I probably would have normally avoided assuming it was probably over pressured. But I hadn't seen anyone on the water at all and it was as good a place as any to start. I worked my way down stream and then back up again. That day I caught several really nice brownies while my wife and son went driving around the park. The fish were not over abundant but were exactly where you thought they would be and occasionally you found more than one hanging out in the same neighborhood.

Day two - Deeper Into the Park.After a morning of touring about we headed a little deeper into the park. I brought my rod along as we drove through the park and saw the herds of bison, white tailed deer, wild turkeys, coyotes. prairie dogs and marmots. ON day one my wife and son had found the "Horse campground" while I was fishing. She wanted to take me there to see that part of the park again. Horse Campground is basically a very nice, special campground for equestrians.

Horse CampgroundIt was just early afternoon when we rolled up. I noted a few spin casters in the creek here and there. It had the atmosphere of a typical municipal campground only with lots of RVs and horse trailers. If you ever wanted to watch a horse get "shoed" this would be where I would send you. French Creek drives right through the middle of the campground. But don't let that stop you from fishing it. I walked a small portion of the creek here and caught a few more browns including a fish that was easily 14-15". From there we moved on to another place that I had been told by a local would be a great place to drop into. He was right as rain.

Fisherman's FlatsThis portion of French Creek is called "Fisherman's Flats". The Flats is actually the only "open area camping" in the park. It is designed to be a 2 to 3 day pack trip that you can take and hike from one end to the other. Fortunately for us there is also a way to drive up to a trail head and hike down to the creek. It is a nice little hike (I'm guessing about a mile) that drops you down into a valley. I hiked down into this area at roughly 2:30pm and when I got close to the water I could see fish rising and jumping at bugs. I only fished about 100 yards of water on this jaunt but what great water it was. Lots of really good sized browns and few brook trout too. I ended up catching at least 13 fish in the short time I had. Good quantity but also great sizes all the way up to 13- 14". The local who keyed me onto the spot said he was always surprised that he hardly ever sees anyone else fishing it very much. This was hands down the best day of fishing on the trip. One warning though...the hike out is all up hill and seems longer than the hike down.Also be on the lookout for rattlesnakes and poison ivy. I saw no snakes but there was plenty of the latter.

Day three - That Creek is EverywhereWe took a quick day trip into the town of Hot Springs, SD. If you go there the only saving grace of the town is the Mammoth dig site that we did go and see. It is a pretty lame little town. Struggling and trying too hard to be charming but missing the mark. We were less than impressed with the town. After a bad lunch we returned to the state park and I decided to take a hike and fish French Creek where it passed near the campground. A few days prior my son and I had taken a short walk and found that our cabin was really close to the creek. I walked the short trail and in a very short time I was on the water and had my first 9" brown in hand. The view in this back area was just beautiful. Cliffs that loom up and the creek just winds around. I only caught 2 or 3 more fish in this section. It didn't seem to have the population. This seemed odd to me as it was actually quite off the beaten path. Oh well not every day on the water is hand over fist catching.

Some Closing thoughtsWhile I was there I saw very few fly fishermen and I was the only tenkara guy. We had been here before and I had an even better trip than last time. It was the week before Memorial day but when we were there in June of 2014 it was only slightly busier.

I think getting outside of your local area every chance you can is one of the best things you can do for your fishing. I do love my Colorado places to fish but getting into these new waters I saw that not all fish are the same. A few times I found myself missing the strike but getting it with a patient presentation a second or third cast. Maybe I am imagining it but the fish just seemed to behave slightly different to what I had gotten used to in my home waters. The change of scenery is always nice and it gets you out of your old habits and makes you have to think a little. Getting to fish a new place is what keeps it all interesting.

The population of South Dakota is relatively small with very few large cities. There is a lot of tourist traffic of course to Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding area. Finding Custer State Park was a real score for us as a family. It has a lot to offer and is very much overlooked. I don't expect this to change. You have to look for these places though. You have to get out of the mind set that everyone else is following. I share this location with you in the hopes that you might actually make the trip yourself, enjoy the great fishing and give the local economy a little of your support. As a family we are considering making Custer an annual trip. Maybe next year I'll see you on the banks of French Creek.

Making room for your creativity.

Looking closely again at my fly tying bench I am amazed at how quickly I begin to collect more tying materials. I see boxes of hooks, spools of twine, an extra vise and extra tools. I literally own enough stuff for two fly tiers. It takes recognizing this before we can think about downsizing. What gets in the way often times is our thinking about our stuff and how much we think we need the things that we accumulate. The truth is we never need as much as we think we do. Sure there is a satisfaction in having more than you need but what good does having so much that you will never use it all in one lifetime? I’m talking about fly tying benches but of course this also applies to most every other part of our lives as well. Today I want to look at some ways we can simplify our tying benches, tie better flies and maybe even open up our creativity by reducing choices instead of having too many choices.

Saki is a great analogy for your fly tying bench. Small containers, quality contents and enjoyment of the basic abstraction of the moments.

The reasons we collect so much.As with any process of simplifying we do need to look at the root of the problem which is our mindset about the stuff we buy, own and keep. We have an uncanny knack for hoarding our materials and supplies in quantities that go beyond our needs. Perhaps the thought is that we don’t want to be without something. Perhaps the thinking attached to the items is that we really want to have a variety of colors and sizes. Perhaps the quantities that materials are sold is too much too. I think it is a combination of all of these things. Add to that our culture of consumption, our challenge of passing up a good deal and for me the discovery of a new material that I just "have" to try and tie a fly with.

Being honest with ourselves. Downsizing requires us to take a moment to understand and evaluate the importance of each item to us and have a moment of honest questioning about why we are holding on to certain materials. Sometimes the reasons are logical and other times they are illogical. We all have probably collected more than we will ever use. I know for a while I was collecting materials out of curiosity. At other times I did because of my desire to learn to use and tie different materials like elk and deer hair etc. Finally, I wanted to have a huge palette of materials for my fly tying creativity. If we want to be more creative and tie better flies though we really have to reduce our options. Much creativity comes from adaptation and not from having a large selection of options.

Some of the reasons we collect. I don’t know where fly tying materials fall on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but let’s look closer at the big picture of why we buy materials in the first place.

1. We have got to start somewhere. Yes, this is true. We have to have some of the basics when we start. Those basics usually include a vise, a bobbin, hackle pliers, scissors, some thread, hooks, tying materials and feathers.Somehow we end up also deciding we need to add a second bobbin, or a whip finisher. That is fine. We just don't ever seem to know when enough is good enough.

2. Emotional Collecting You may have seen some of these reality "Hoarding" shows on television. The people on those shows have some pretty serious psychosis going on. We all have it to a small degree. It is hardwired into us as humans to gather supplies for our security and survival. We should be mindful of our purchases and decide if the thing we are buying is for actual use or if we are buying it for emotional reasons.

3. A habit of Spending. How often do you go into your local fly shop or on line to look at materials and end up buying materials? Are you buying out of need or habit? The issue is that we don't establish limits to our needs. We can slowly build our supplies through one purchase here and one purchase there. We fail to appreciate what we already have and fool ourselves into believing that getting that new rooster hackle in purple is good idea. Watch your own habits. Decide if they are serving you or bogging you down with more stuff you will only use a little of once.

4. The great deal. Who doesn't love a great deal on materials? (or anything for that matter?) When we see a great deal we have to do everything in our power not to purchase or we will "lose out". We should maybe decide if we are sold on the great deal or if we really need the item. If we do find a great deal and we do need the item maybe we should consider if we know someone who could also use the materials. Take advantage of the deal but also don't feel you need to go for quantity. Share what you don't need or even split the deal with someone.

5. Bragging rights. Do you ever socially brag about your quantities or variety of materials to others? Do you feel a certain amount of status or see yourself at a level of expertise in owning so many materials? We fool ourselves sometimes with these small insecurities. We want others to see us as equals or even experts. This status cannot be obtained by quantity but rather should be measured by quality.

6. Experimental materials. I am guilty of this more than any other reason. I love visiting the fabric stores, garden centers, craft stores and bead shops. I find stuff in the park and in my wife's sewing supplies. I don't even have to spend money. I've caught myself looking at a carpet end thread thinking about how it will look on a fly. There is nothing wrong with this kind of experimentation to a point. I know I have gone too far though when I start looking for more loose carpet threads to pull.

What happens when we let go?Removing the excess in our lives actually frees us up. Having smaller quantities makes things more manageable. Having fewer choices also helps us to focus and appreciate quality over quantity. I work now to tie great looking flies. I watch and learn how the materials adhere to each other; connect together and actually work together to create a thing that fish will find interesting enough to bite.

I have discovered an appreciation for the materials I do have. I am less overwhelmed by the choices and feel less regret over materials sitting around collecting dust. I can still explore new ideas and new materials when I want to. I do it now with smaller quantities when I can.

I like having a bench and tying area that is easy to clean up, maintain and that I can pack up easily and take with me when I travel. Finally, having a clutter free space to work and limited supplies helps me to sit down to tie more often. When I tie with limited choices for materials I am forced to look at the different techniques and approaches to tying a fly pattern. My tying style becomes focused, intentional and very much an art.

So how much should we downsize?Simple answer... “Downsize as much as you feel comfortable.” You have to find that happy zone for yourself. Downsizing takes place over months or sometimes even years. It is a practice in an of itself. I’ve been doing it for years not only with my fly tying materials but with the rest of my possessions as well. It feels good to get rid of excess and it can make others happy too when you pass on your excess stuff to them. I’ve already given away two old vises and lots of feathers and dubbing. Start with smaller containers to restrict the quantities you feel comfortable keeping. I use mint tins from Trader Joe's for a lot of my materials.

Here is where I have downsized.

Hooks: I’ve reached a point where I know I will probably only be tying just a few sizes or styles of hooks. So I have reduced my hooks to just those few. I do purchase these in larger quantities now but hooks take up very little room in the first place. Reduce your hooks to just what you most commonly use. If you are planning a trip that will require bigger hooks then buy only what you need at the time you need it.

Dubbing: I reduced the amount of dubbing I keep of any one color to about one square inch of material tightly packed. I've also dropped to six basics; red, black, yellow, brown, grey and green. This is still way more than I will likely use so I will likely be reduced in the near future too.

Tools: I only need one vise and one of each tool I regularly use. We all only have two hands. If you have two of something have a reason for it. I am now down to just what I feel I need for tools.

Feathers and fur: I still have a decent variety of capes and bags of feathers. I know that I could reduce this part of my supplies and materials and I will be. Retire those ragged capes of feathers. Pluck what is left on several of those thinning capes and put them into a single small baggie or box of miscellaneous hackles. I’ve personally stopped using furs and hair pelts but still keep on hand some moose and horse mane.

Thread: I realized too late that I was gathering duplicate spools of black and different shades of reds and greens. Reduce your threads to just one of each color you use. One direction that I am considering with thread is to have just a few key colors and a spool of white thread. I have been using white quite a bit lately because it can be colored very easily with a variety of colored permanent markers.

Make a choice to function better with less. Every change in our lives requires effort. I can promise you only that it will be challenging but that the challenge will be worth it. The process will help you with other gathering and purchasing habits you have. This translates quickly to our entire lifestyle if we let it. Own things you know you are going to use and that you can honestly care about. If you have an idea for a new fly, try to only buy a small quantity. We all know others who tie flies. If you have a surplus of something gift a bit to them or donate it to an organization like project healing waters. If you don't have any friends, post it on Craigslist. Someone needs it more than you do and they may even pay you a little money for it.

Until our next post, I wish you happy downsizing and mindful fly tying. Please share your downsizing ideas in the comments below too!

The late winter snows keep blowing in to Colorado and the Front Range. While I am just as guilty as others in my practice of the obligatory cursing about spring taking its own sweet time to get here, I try to also remember that snow is water and water is life for the rivers and streams that I will want to fish in the late spring.

It has been a relatively mild winter. I worry every January or February for the health of our streams. Colorado water management sometimes doesn't feel very well regulated from the fisherman's point of view. Our recent last few years have given us floods that wipe out the habitat and seem to raise water PH to higher acidic levels that may start to kill off entomological life and food sources for fish. Like many, I think I feel a little bit frustrated and disenfranchised.

Some of the streams I fish go to supply local city water supplies and some feed rivers that feed other cities thousands of miles down stream. The idea that we keep building larger cities bothers me. I am also struck by the huge culture of ignorance over the limited resource that water is. Think about this a little when you brush your teeth and let the water run, get too lost in thought while taking a shower, or perhaps let your yard hose run a little too long watering a lawn. I'm not here to shame you, but I am here to remind you that it takes a lot of small actions to create the kind of changes we need.

We all are familiar with the peacefulness to a fresh layer of snow across the yard. At night the snow also seems to acts as sound buffer to noise and there is a settling reflective quality of moonlight on the snow that makes the world seem ghost-like. The snow is a good excuse for guy like me to hunker down and find a cozy corner to read or to dive into tying some flies. I try to be thoughtful when I can be about the waiting through the winter. Eventually though I can't help but get impatient for the early fishing just before the blow out.

I think that it is a good thing that we are forced to just abide by the weather as it comes. We have to look at that part of ourselves that wants to speed life and nature along. Nature is never rushed and just happens. Watching the seasons can be a test of our patience and a reminder of our relationship to the seasons for sure. I fool myself sometimes into thinking that spring is just around the corner. I pull out my fishing license and look forward to going in to get it renewed. I lie and tell myself "this is the last snow of the season." It never is until it is of course. Thankfully my wife who is a native Coloradan reminds me every year that March is historically the most snowy month in Colorado. Thanks honey... (She's such a buzz kill).

I will be posting later in March about my latest favorite fly designs and talk about simplifying your fly tying bench too.Thanks for your support as a reader of my ramblings and thoughts.

Author

Dennis Vander Houwen Lives in Colorado with his wife, son, two dogs and 3 chickens. This blogs is where he shares his thoughts, observations and experiences living a life inspired by simplicity. This is not just a blog about a special kind of fly fishing. It is about learning from the examples that tenkara.